It seems like a long time ago now, but when the 2004 smoking ban in public places was first proposed, one of the fiercest arguments against it was that more people would resort to lighting up at home.

Anti-ban campaigners warned this would lead to children in particular being exposed to more harmful second-hand smoke. But a new study has confirmed what many of us suspected -- the ban has prompted people to smoke less in the home.

The authors base their findings on two waves of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) Europe Surveys.

These were conducted before and after legislation banning smoking in public places had come into force in Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and in the UK, excluding Scotland.

It found that after the new laws came into force the percentage of smokers who banned smoking at home rose significantly in all countries and although Ireland was not as good as Germany or the Netherlands, the numbers with a no-smoking rule in their own houses increased by 25pc here.